Keep your ink-jet printer printing

Print head or ink cartidge clogged? Prevent this common problem. If you don't use your ink-jet on a regular basis, opting to use a laser for faster printing and sharper text, pick a day of the week (anyday) and make an entry into whichever calendar application you use to send a recurring reminder to print a test page from your ink-jet. Printing at least once a week will reduce the possibility that the cartridge or print head will clog with dry ink.

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Your black cartridge is most definitely clogged. You can easily check that by removing the cartridge and press the print head on some tissue. If there is no mark, the print head on your black cartridge is clogged. Now, HP has some kind of software head cleaning. It doesn't always work, but you can try. Here is a link to HP site, referring to your problem: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01361894&cc=bg&lc=en&dlc=en&product=3692888 Read carefully and follow the instructions. If that doesn't solve your problem, you should buy a new black cartridge. Also, bear in mind that with ink-jet printers, you need to print something at least once in 10-15 days, otherwise the print head will again get clogged and you will be facing the same issue over and over again. If you do not print on a regular basis, make some kind of test page, that contains black, yellow, magenta and cyan. Print that page once in 2 weeks and your printer will always work fine.

If you haven´t used your inkjet printer for a while it may just be dry ink clogging some of the nozzles in the print head.

To check if yours is clogged...

Remove the ink cartridgesHolding the cartridge upright and press down gently onto a paper towel.

The colour cartridgeyou should see YELLOW, MAGENTA (red) and CYAN (blue)

But if any colours are missing? The inks have probably just clogged up? and you will need to buy a new one or if you know you still have ink then you can easily unclog it with aMagic Inkjet Flush Kit (Which you can find on Ebay)

MIXED COLOURSIf you have others colours coming out then the colours have mixed...Sometimes caused when people put tape onto the inks to keep them moist but instead the colours mix through capilary action.

If so... leave print head sitting on a paper towel for a few mins until the correct colours appear.

To prevent an ink clog it is best if you print something regularly about every 10 days to keep the tiny print head nozzles / jets open. Otherwise the ink in the print head will thicken. Then it´s like trying to pass a camel through the eye of a needle.

So to preven inkjet ink from clogging print something every 10 days if you dont have anything to print, use something like these test prints

This is a common problem I have found with Epson printers. If you don’t use the printer on a regular basis the printer heads can clog. I have found no way to clean the heads once this occurs. I will now only purchase HP printers because the printer heads are part of the ink cartridges. With every cartridge change you get new heads, end of that problem!

it means it is time to do some preventive maintenance on your unit, or keeping the print heads clean
It is important you keep the printer heads clean. This stops ink clogging the nozzles of the printer, and reduces ink smudge on the paper. This is important for HP , as they don’t always do the best automatic clean in my experience.
To clean the print heads, remove the cartridge, and gently clean the print heads with a soft cotton cloth dipped in a little water. I wouldn’t recommend using tissue or alcohol. Be warned!
Make sure the print heads are dry and then replace the cartridge. By doing this you will expand your printer life and the quality of the printouts.
Prevent the printer from drying up ink by using it
I remember taking support calls around a year ago. People would say I haven’t used the printer for over a year, and the quality isn’t what I expected.
If you use your printer regular this will prevent ink drying up and keep the printer and ink in good condition. Use both Colour and black and white prints weekly to stop the nozzles on your printer getting clogged up, or the ink to simply dry up. Be careful with printer jams Don’t ram the paper out if you have a paper jam. This can damage the printer, which I have seen done many times. Look at guides on the manufactures site, if you don’t have time to do that, remember that you want to get the paper out smoothly. Most HP Printers have a hatch attached at the back that can be removed. You will then have access to the paper wheels, and you should be able to see the paper that is jammed in there. Remove the paper this way, and it is unlikely that you will damage the printer. Power down correctly Turn your printer off when not in use. This can prevent drying of ink and also help keep the printer functioning at high quality. Remember to use the printers power button, and them remove at the plug if need be. Don’t power off if you are in the middle of something. These will just cause problems for you. Clean your printer but don’t over do it IF you perform print ink clean by software or your printer’s hardware, do it once and not over and over. Doing this over and over can cause more damage than good. Clean your printer’s encoder strip monthly to stop quality issues at a later date. Remember if you have low ink to replace immediately. This prevents ink being left in the printer heads and nozzles, and will generally give your printer more life.